2010 Daytona SuperSport Race 1 Results

Bashing away at the MotoUSA keyboard for nine years now, Madson lends his scribbling and editorial input on everything from bike reviews to industry analysis and motorcycle racing reports.

AMA Pro Road Racing kicked off at Daytona with a wild one in SuperSport. Cameron Beaubier took the win by the narrowest of margins, just 0.001 ahead of fellow Yamaha pilot Joey Pascarella and Jake Gagne. The close finish up front highlighted a top five that all finished within 0.3 seconds of the winner, with no less than four different riders claiming at least one lead lap. Suzuki’s Elena Myers finished her professional debut with a seventh-place result.

Joey Pascarella was unable to fend off Cameron Beaubier at the Daytona finish, losing out by a scant 0.001.

Pascarella jumped up front in the opening laps, followed by Beaubier and J.D. Beach. The front five lapped within a second of the leader, with fellow Yamahas Gagne and Tomas Puerta all keeping the pace. Myers and Huntley Nash kept within striking distance as well, as the rest of the field began to fall behind.

On Lap 4 Beach move up to grab a lead lap, as the front five began bumping around in a position shuffle that would remain disordered until the final lap. Pascarella reasserting himself on Lap 7 until Gagne took the position on L9, only to be usurped by Beaubier the very next lap.

“You could have thrown a blanket over them” was how our track photog described the frantic scene, as the front five vied for the win. None wanted to be in front on the final straightaway, with Daytona’s notorious finish line drafting passes. Pascarella hesitated, allowing Beaubier to get in front, then made his move. However, Beaubier managed to re-draft past his opponent at the line, just necking out the victory. Gagne nearly pulling off a last ditch pass to finish third just 0.065 off the winner. The finish was so close that both riders were dismayed, believing they had lost the race.

Cameron Beaubier scored a win in his first start in the SuperSport class. The rookie used the draft to repass Joey Pascarella at the finish line to win by one thousandth of a second.

Myers’ finish at 5.796 seconds back in seventh belies the fact that she was hanging with the front runners, within two seconds of the leader for much of the race.

Rider Quotes

“Once again it was a crazy finish at Daytona. It seems like every time I come here it’s pretty gnarly.” – Joey Pascarella

“The second to last lap I got in a little too deep trying to pass and had to run through the run-out area. So I dropped back a bit. I just kept my head down the last lap. While the guys up front were messing around trying not to be first on the banking, it allowed me to catch up a bit. I got some slipstream on the banking and was able to pass two guys at the end.” – Jake Gagne

“The draft helped so much. I wound up going first going first onto the banking, and he (Pascarella) passed me. He pulled out of the slipstream too early, and I wound up getting by him and barley beat him” Cameron Beaubier

The SuperSport class will open Friday’s races with the second 12-lap contest at 3 p.m. EST.

Finishing seventh in her professional debut, Elena Myers had the front group within her sights for most of the race.